The team behind the restaurant/sports bar The Hub is bringing a playful new dining experience to Stratford with the opening of Sweet Street Diner & Cooper's Scoops. The new part-diner-part-ice-cream-shop has taken over the main floor space of 31 Market Pl., which previously housed a grocery offshoot of the Hub restaurant.
“This came up when we were re-imagining what the main floor of 31 Market Pl. could be,” said Julia Allum, media and marketing manager, the Hub Family. “We really wanted to make something that was affordable in downtown Stratford, laid-back, and just a great new way to utilize the space.”
In previous years, the Hub has operated Cooper's Scoops ice cream as a seasonal takeout window. Allum says the team wanted to expand on this popular offering with the addition of Sweet Street Diner.
“We have a chef who had originally started his career in a breakfast diner,” explained Allum. “He really enjoyed it and it’s something that he likes to offer.”
Allum added that the adjacent Hub Butchery also seemed like a natural pairing for a diner menu. “With the butchery right there, we do our own in-house smoked bacon and breakfast sausage,” she said.
While customers can grab Cooper's Scoops cones to go, Allum said the ice cream also makes its way into diner dishes like French toast and pancakes. Classic milkshakes – which come in flavours ranging from traditional vanilla or strawberry to creative options like salted caramel with Hub Butchery bacon – also incorporate Cooper’s Scoops’ signature ice cream.
The diner menu is divided into 'breakfast faves' and 'new spin', giving breakfast-goers a choice between tried-and-true start-of-the-day staples like eggs benny and more inventive dishes like the ‘let’s taco ‘bout it’ featuring scrambled eggs, spicy chorizo, avocado, salsa, and home fries.
“We tried to touch on every aspect of breakfast,” said Allum of the menu, “from your classic breakfast such as bacon and eggs – then going towards things that our chef had some fun with like a breakfast poutine done with his homemade hollandaise sauce.”
The menu also includes sandwiches that skew towards the lunch side of brunch, such as a chicken club and a BLT, along with a dedicated kids’ menu and a line-up of better-for-you options that includes a smoothie bowl with quinoa, berries, banana, and granola.
Allum says the restaurant interior has been given a refresh to match the new menu. “We’ve made it feel like more of a diner – we have retro booth seating,” she said, noting that the front booths have lovely views of Market Square.
The team has also added a large private event area on the main floor. “We do have an area in the back now – it's a fully contained area for large groups,” she explained.
“This was a new way to revitalize the space with a new concept that we felt the core needed,” said Allum. Sweet Street Diner & Cooper's Scoops is now open daily from 7 a.m. to noon.
Sweet Street Diner & Cooper's Scoops
31 Market Place, Main Floor
facebook.com/coopersscoops
